The
State of New Mexico or Estado de Nuevo México is a southwestern
state in the United States of America. Over its relatively long history it
has also been occupied by Native American populations and has been part of
the Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain, a state of Mexico and a U.S. territory.
Among U.S. states, New Mexico has simultaneously the highest percentage of
Hispanic Americans (some recent immigrants and others descendants of Spanish
colonists) and the second-highest percentage of Native Americans (mostly Navajo
and Pueblo peoples). As a result, the demographics and culture of the state
are unique for their strong Spanish, Mexican, and U.S. Amerindian cultural
influences..
The
eastern border of New Mexico lies along 103° W with Oklahoma, and 3 miles
(5 km) west of 103° W with Texas. Texas also lies south of most of New
Mexico, although the southwestern boot-heel borders the Mexican states of
Chihuahua and Sonora. The western border with Arizona runs along 109°
W. The 37° N parallel forms the northern boundary with Colorado. The states
of New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah come together at the Four Corners
in the northwestern corner of New Mexico.
The landscape ranges from wide, rose-colored deserts to broken mesas to high, snow-capped peaks. Despite New Mexico's arid image, heavily forested mountain wildernesses cover a significant portion of the state. Part of the Rocky Mountains, the broken, north-south oriented Sangre de Cristo (Blood of Christ) range flanks both sides of the Rio Grande from the rugged, pastoral north through the center of the state.
Cacti, yuccas, creosote bush, sagebrush, and desert grasses cover the broad, semiarid plains that cover the southern portion of the state as well as everywhere else.
The Federal government protects millions of acres of New Mexico as national forests.
The
climate of New Mexico is sunny and dry. The main factor in the climate of
the state is elevation. Areas at the same elevation in the northern and southern
extremes of the state may differ by only 3 °F, while areas only a few
miles apart, but differing in elevation by 4000 feet may have mean annual
temperatures which are 15 °F apart. Summers in New Mexico are hot below
5000 feet in elevation with daytime highs frequently exceeding 100 °F.
At the highest elevations, the upper 70's °F is the summertime normal
high temperature. The summertime peak is often reached earlier than in the
rest of the United States as July and August often bring monsoon moisture
to the state as moisture from the Gulf of Mexico comes into the state. Summer
nights are comfortable as the temperature drops rapidly as the sun sets. The
winters bring cooler temperatures than might be expected for a state at its
latitude with daytime highs in the south part of the state only reaching around
55 °F in lower elevations in the south, while many higher elevations in
the north barely average above freezing. Nights throughout the state tend
to be below freezing in the winter. As a general rule, precipitation in New
Mexico increases with elevation with the southern desert and the San Juan
Valley receiving less than 10 inches per year, while the highest areas of
the state receive more than 20 inches per year. Most of the precipitation
across the state falls during the monsoon season in July and August. The exception
is the area of the state west of the Continental divide which has wetter winters
than the rest of the state.
Severe weather is an occasional problem in the state. The entire state is subject to frequent summer thunderstorms in July and August. The northeast portion of the state is most affected by thunderstorms averaging 70 thunderstorm days per year, which is higher than anywhere else in the United States except for the Gulf Coast, Florida, and the adjacent sections of Colorado. These thunderstorms are brief, but can be intense with strong winds, hail, and deadly cloud to ground lightning. Tornadoes are not uncommon in New Mexico with the eastern part of the state more vulnerable. The state, on rare occasions, is affected by the remnants of tropical cyclones, both from storms coming from the western Gulf of Mexico and the eastern Gulf of California. When this happens, the result is usually a heavy downpour with little or no wind damage.
Metropolitan areas by population
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